Shutter noise

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martin73

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Martin
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Hi, I have a Canon eos550d that I'm enjoying learning how to use, it's far more capable than I, but, I'm starting to find that the click of the shutter startles the birds I'm trying to photograph when I'm reasonably close and they sometimes fly off because of it. Would anyone know if the higher end Canons are quieter?

I don't think my camera is faulty or anything as my father has a 550d too and shutter noise is the same.

Another family member has a Nikon D90 and the shutter noise is, very very quiet indeed.

Just wondering if the higher end Canons are as quiet as the d90 I heard recently.

Thanks.
 
The 5DIII has a true silent shutter mode in single shot and 3fps which is excellent where you don't want to spook things. The 1D4 has a sort of system that works in single shot mode but its not as good as the 5DIII, I understand the 6D also has the silent mode as in the 5DIII but not tried that yet.

5DIII is the pick of the bunch if you want the best in silent shutters as far as I know
 
Would be interested to know about it relating to the 1D mkiv as the shutter is rather loud.
I'm off now to research it.

A friend of mine uses Pentax & his is very quiet.
 
Is it just the shutter sound or does the camera beep once focused too?

Most nikons have a quiet mode that stops beeping then only drops the viewing mirror once you release the shutter button. Don't think its completely silent though.
 
They will get used to it. I use a 1d that sounds like a tank compared to some cameras but have no trouble with them flying off.
The beep can have an effect on them as I found out when my pal left his on one day, the first time he got focus and bleeped the place cleared.
 
Just tried my 1d mkiv.

It's only available in single shot & is quiter but not significantly.

All the beeps are turned off on all my cameras.
 
My camera used to beep on focus but I have disabled this inthe menu so no more beep, it's defiantly the noise of the shutter for me, I have seen some birds actually 'jump' when the shutter does it's thing. The noise isn't a problem when I'm like 30feet away but sometimes when I get close, 10ft or so it defiantly makes them wary and when I've spent half hour edging my way in for them to fly away with the clunk,,, hmmm :D
 
I was photographing a goldcrest this morning & was very close. Probably about ten feet away with 600mm f4 & a load of extension tubes so I could focus close enough.
My camera was set to 10fps. The first shot was perfect but the second shot no sign of any bird.
The bird kept coming back to the same spot so it wasn't really a problem but every time the bird was gone by the time the camera reached the second shutter actuation.
Bloody fast little things.
 
drexyl said:
I was photographing a goldcrest this morning & was very close. Probably about ten feet away with 600mm f4 & a load of extension tubes so I could focus close enough.
My camera was set to 10fps. The first shot was perfect but the second shot no sign of any bird.
The bird kept coming back to the same spot so it wasn't really a problem but every time the bird was gone by the time the camera reached the second shutter actuation.
Bloody fast little things.
Click to expand...

Hi, I don't feel so bad now I know someone else has the same problem :D not that it's funny or anything, kind of comforting in a fashion.

I can't help but notice you used a 600 f4 close in on a Goldcrest, I'd love to see a picture from this lens close in :)
 
martin73 said:
Hi, I have a Canon eos550d that I'm enjoying learning how to use, it's far more capable than I, but, I'm starting to find that the click of the shutter startles the birds
Click to expand...


Don't buy a D800 then!! Noisiest shutter I've heard in a long time.
 
I don't suffer, no... I don't shoot wildlife.. but it's a damned good job I don't. The D800 makes a proper, old school "clack". I kinda like it... you'd hate it though :)
 
Pookeyhead said:
I don't suffer, no... I don't shoot wildlife.. but it's a damned good job I don't. The D800 makes a proper, old school "clack". I kinda like it... you'd hate it though :)
Click to expand...

lol, I do actually like the shutter noise, especially when I go into continuous mode and blast a few off, click,click,click,click,click,click, never fails to make me smile, but your right, not very good for birds close in :D
 
Mkiv is bloody loud when shooting flighty birds close, so I try and wrap the camera in some scrim to muffle the slaps as much as possible...
 
drexyl said:
link to my goldcrest


http://www.flickr.com/photos/drexylpogo/8509697109/
Click to expand...

Very good; did you have to use an extension tube as it's almost a macro?

The noises are there with most cams. As mentioned 5DIII is probably the quietest, everything else will give a nice loud mechanical slap. 1DIII/IV do get a bit quieter in the 's' drive mode, but that's not really for 'silence'. You should hear my 1Ds II in action :) but I usually do something else to scare the birds away :lol:
The xxxDs sound a bit almost like a squeak-slap, maybe that high pitched noise scares them a little more?
 
Just a thought - assuming you're using a tripod and the birds are landing in the same spot, pre-focussed etc. you could use mirror lock-up?

Lock-up mirror when no birds are there, take photo when bird is in shot.
Most of the shutter noise is mirror-flip as opposed to shutter noise I think?
 
Durbs said:
Just a thought - assuming you're using a tripod and the birds are landing in the same spot, pre-focussed etc. you could use mirror lock-up?

Lock-up mirror when no birds are there, take photo when bird is in shot.
Most of the shutter noise is mirror-flip as opposed to shutter noise I think?
Click to expand...

Hi, I did try this earlier on after reading your reply while I was out in the woods, thanks alot, it did quieten things down lots.

I used a tripod and just focused at a tree as there were no birds about.
I focused on the tree, went into c.fn menu and enabled mirror lock.
I left this menu and then pushed the shutter button, but no picture, it wasn't until I pushed the button a second time that the picture was taken, does this sound right? Sorry if it sounds silly, I really dont know :D
 
Shine On said:
Yes that's right. First shutter press locks the mirror up, so second press of shutter button is when a near silent picture is taken.
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, that helps tremendously. So correct operation :D

So, would I be right in saying, not that I've tried yet, that if I focus on the subject, lock the mirror up and then the subject moves slightly out of focus, if I were in manual focus mode, could I then re focus while the mirrors up and still take the picture on the second press?
 
live view is often very slow in operation.. not the best for wildlife I'd have thought.
 
Sony SLTs are very quiet, particularly with electronic first curtain shutter enabled.
 
Hi, well I tried to shoot through the lcd screen but, failed miserably :D

Before buying the camera, I'd never even thought about the shutter startling animals,
I don't want to move away from canon now as I have bought a 400mm zoom and have the use of a 400 f5.6 if I ask nicely. Perhaps a 5dIII is the way forward later in the year.

edit, should I say mirror instead of shutter?
 
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Technically yes... ;)

Mirror lock-up will work, if you shoot in AEB mode too, with only +/- a third (so as not to get too differently exposed shots) you'll get 3 very quiet shots per mirror-flip.
The difficulty is that once the mirror is up, you can't see through the view-finder, so trying to re-focus/re-compose won't really work. If you're locked on to a certain point however, this should help.

You could also look at wrapping a thick towel around the body to dampen the sound a bit.
 
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